1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a test apparatus for testing devices under test such as a semiconductor device and to a program for operating the test apparatus. Further, the present application relates to the following application, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference if applicable.
Japanese Patent application No. 2005-126893
Filed on Apr. 25, 2005
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a test apparatus for testing devices under test (abbreviated as DUT hereinafter) tests the DUTs by outputting a plurality of signals thereto. At this time, the respective output signals must be controlled so that their phase difference from reference phase coincide each other.
The conventional test apparatus is provided with a plurality of test modules and outputs the plurality of output signals from those test modules. Still more, it is provided with a variable delay circuit at an output port of each test module to adjust the phase of the plurality of output signals.
The variable delay circuit may be readily installed in the conventional test apparatus because the test modules of the same type are mounted and the configuration of the mounted test modules is fixed.
However, the general-purposeness of the conventional test apparatus is low because the configuration of the test modules is fixed. Then, there has been proposed a test apparatus that permits the configuration of test modules to be changed and plural types of test modules to be used in parallel for example.
However, when the configuration of test modules is changed, phases of output signals of the test modules must be adjusted anew because a signal transmission delay differs per test module. Still more, when a plurality of types of test modules is used, phase of output signal must be adjusted for each test module because a transmission delay differs in each test module.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a test apparatus and a program capable of solving the above-mentioned problems. This object may be achieved by combining features described in independent claims of the invention. Dependent claims specify further preferable embodiments of the invention.